Israeli strikes kill 11 in Gaza, deadliest toll since Israeli election

At least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded in Israeli airstrikes targeting several areas across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, including six killed in a raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, marking the highest death toll since the Israeli election on October 27, according to Palestinian health sources.

The strike targeted the surgery department at Nasser Hospital, injuring 30 others, a medical source said. The hospital confirmed the deaths of the six victims, while civil defense teams reported recovering their bodies from the targeted building.

Among the dead was Palestinian doctor Rizq Abu Sheikh, who had performed surgery on Wednesday evening with Jawhar Rahbour, a British volunteer surgeon at the hospital.

Rahbour described the moment of the strike to AFP: “I was on my phone reading a little, and the strike happened just after midnight. It was very powerful and very quick. The building shook and there was a lot of smoke.”

The Israeli military acknowledged carrying out the attack, saying it targeted “the Khan Younis Brigade commander in Hamas, Mohammed Abu Ismail, and other militants hiding inside Nasser Hospital.” However, it did not confirm his death, and his name did not appear on the list of victims published by Gaza’s civil defense.

The Israeli military claimed Abu Ismail was “responsible for directing terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and military forces, and for holding a large number of hostages throughout the war.” It also accused Hamas of using the hospital as a command and control center, weapons storage site, and for conducting “interrogations and torture.”

Hamas, in turn, denied using Nasser Hospital for military purposes, saying in a statement that Israel had provided a “false narrative” to justify its deadly strikes.

Israeli strikes were not limited to Khan Younis, as civil defense reported five more people killed in separate attacks across the Strip.

One person was shot dead by Israeli forces near Al-Bureij camp, and another was killed in a drone strike targeting a vehicle near Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza. A separate strike on a vehicle near Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City killed two people, while a fifth person died in a drone attack on a group in Jabalia in the north.

The Israeli military confirmed targeting a fighter in Deir Al-Balah and another in Gaza City, but denied carrying out the second strike near Al-Shifa Hospital.